The Line
by EmLovesYouu
Summary: They only saw each other once a year. For one month. Every Summer. And that was it. - childhood!klaine AU.
1. Prologue

**Okay, so I know I should be working on You Only Find It Once, but this idea has been stuck with me for a while now and then I wrote this and it's kind of super angsty but the whole story won't be like that, I promise.**

**While it may not seem like it here, this will actually be a childhood klaine fic (yayyyy!)**

**Anyway, enjoy! :)**

Brushing my wispy hair out of my eyes, even though the wind would only push them back seconds later, I stared at the property. The newly regrown grass and the varnished wooden decking, covered up the tragedy that lied deep under its foundations. It was a place that still brought me to tears. I often end up here, after wandering aimlessly for hours, and find the dirtied air in my lungs compressed. I struggle to catch my breath as the stinging behind my eyes turns to tears, which roll over my cheeks and my slightly quivering lips. My need to bottle everything up is unfortunately not strong enough to override the need to let everything off my chest. No matter how hard I've tried to forget and move on with my life, I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. It seems almost like betrayal, to forget about this place I stand before and the countless memories it holds.

But where is the line? Where is the line that divides too much and not enough? The swarm of decisions that I must now make overwhelm me to a point where I wish I could just shut my eyes and let all the hard things in my life fly over my head. And other times when it becomes too hard, I want to let the misery wash over me; to give in the gaping hole in my chest. I can't do that though. It would be unfair to him, if I were to choose to live that way, when he'd have given anything to have my life; to be me right now.

That isn't how life works though; I can't just choose to switch places with him. Fairness doesn't work that way. To be honest, I don't know how fairness works at all. How is it fair that I remain here, with all of this pain and sorrow and memories. It just doesn't seem right.

Pressing my palm against the cool glass of the front fence, I am reminded of how it used to be. A vision of the chipped and faded green picket fence replaces the wall I see before me. It seemed to me like this new fence is some sort of barricade; though it failed to prevent me from remembering. I remember the feel of the old pebble pathway, the one that lead around the side of the house, underneath my bare feet. The small seedlings in no way compared to the old gums that once stood there. The same gums I'd spent hours of my childhood playing in the treehouse that sat beneath its branches. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I had once found this place an asylum; my sanctuary. Whereas now it causes me so much heartache that I try my utmost hardest to avoid it; though it is inevitable that I will always end up here, one way or another.

As much as I despise it here, it allows me to think. It allows me to think about all the things I spend every minute of the day trying to avoid. They may not necessarily be welcome thoughts, but it's those thoughts that allow me to go back to _before_; when everything seemed okay.

**Well there's the prologue for you... are you intrigued? I hope so. Anyway, I don't know how long it'll be until I post the first proper chapter, but hopefully soon. Let me know your thoughts or theories or just general ideas by leaving me a review. Thanks for reading!**

**Em xoxo**


	2. 2001

**Okay, so here's where the story really starts. **

**As I said in the prologue, this story is a childhood!AU fic. Each chapter is going to be the Summer of a different year. This chapter here is the year 2001, while the prologue was 2012. We start with Blaine at age 6 and Kurt at age 7.**

**Also if you read my other story **_You Only Find It Once_**, you are probably quite aware of my infrequent updating habits... if you didn't, I'm apologising in advance if I leave you hanging for a while. However, I do actually have a plan for this one so hopefully (fingers crossed) it won't take me so long to update.**

**Anyway, welcome and enjoy the ride! :)**

…

**2001.**

They say that, as children, we only remember a small fraction of our memories. And even when we do remember them, that they're not exactly accurate; that they're a warped and imaginative version of what really happened. I don't believe that though, I never really have; I remember every second of that first time I met him. I remember it as clearly as I remember eating breakfast this morning, even though it happened more than a decade ago, but perhaps that's different. Maybe there's something we have in our minds as children that help up recognise what moments in our lives are big and important enough to be worth remembering. And meeting him was definitely that...

It was the Summer just after I'd turned six and, as usual, we were down at the lake. We'd been coming to the lake for as long as I could remember, every Summer for a month. I loved it. I loved that the house was old and wooden and on stilts. I loved being able to go swimming whenever I wanted – well, as long as someone was with me. My brother Cooper was a different story though. He's a lot older than me, eight years older to be exact. He'd always loved the lake just as much as me, but this year was different. Cooper spent the entire car ride complaining. I never complained; I was speaking to Tommy next door and he has never been to a lake before so I must be very lucky.

We didn't arrive until very late at night; Dad had had to work that day so we didn't leave until the afternoon. The first thing I noticed when we arrived, though, was that the small blue house next door to ours had lights on inside. No one lived there so I had never seen the lights on before.

"Mummy, look! There's lights on in that house!"

"Oh, somebody must have bought it. About time too, that place has been abandoned for years," his Mum replied, seeming just as excited as he was, as she unloaded their bags from the car.

"Can we go over and say hi?" I said, barely able to keep still.

"No, honey. It's too late now, they're probably already in bed. But I promise we can go over and introduce ourselves tomorrow. How about that, hey?"

We didn't.

Well, we _tried_. But they weren't home so we decided to go to the park instead. Technically it's not really a park – it's a _picnic ground_ – but it has a big area that is sand which is kind of like the sandpit at the park near my house, and they have a seesaw as well. I wasn't allowed to play on it until after we'd eaten lunch, I didn't mind that much because Dad was making his hamburgers which are my favourite food in the whole world. Once we'd finished eating I was finally _finally_ allowed to go and play. There was already another kid playing in the sand, a girl who looked to be about the same age as me. She had a little shovel that she was using to dig a hole in the sand. I hadn't even thought to bring my shovel; I wish I had though.

"Hi. I'm Blaine."

The girl looked up at me quickly, and said a quick, "hello" before going back to her digging.

"Could I maybe dig with you? I forgot my shovel, but I could use my hands?" Mum always tells me off for getting my hands dirty; last Summer I got banned from the muddy area around the side of the house because I'd wanted to make mud pies and then got mud all over my new clothes.

"No. I don't want to play with a _boy_."

"_Oh_. Okay." No one had ever spoken to me that way before – so meanly – except maybe for Mum when she found me making the mud pies. I didn't like it. I don't know why she wouldn't want me to play with her because I'm a boy. What difference does it make if I'm a boy or a girl?

I didn't want to annoy her though, I felt like I'd already annoyed her enough already, so I moved over to another section of the sand and sat down. I started to build a castle, but it was really hard without a bucket. I was working on building one of the castle's towers when I felt a light tap on my shoulder.

I felt panicked for a moment, thinking that maybe it was the girl coming to be mean to me again, but the girl was still over there digging her hole. I turned around then, and _that's_ when I saw him.

He was so pretty. Other than my mum, he was probably the prettiest person I'd ever seen. He had blue eyes and really nice hair, not curly like mine. He was wearing a pair of overalls that I was really jealous of; I'd been asking Mum for a pair for _ages_. He was standing on the edge of the sand, chewing on his thumb nail while holding a yellow shovel in his other hand.

"I saw you digging by yourself without a shovel. I have a shovel, my mum bought it for me for my birthday. Did you want me to help you?" he smiled at me then, holding up his shovel.

"Yeah, thanks. I'm building a castle."

"Ooh, I love castles. Do you have a bucket?"

"No." I frowned.

He chewed on his lower lip for a few moments, before standing up and brushing the sand off his knees.

"Well we can't build a sandcastle without a bucket."

"Oh, okay then. Should we make something else?"

He shook his head quickly, holding his hand out towards me and said, "No. I have a better idea, but we have to wait until my mummy looks away. So when I say go, just follow me, okay?"

"Okay, but where are we going?" I asked, emptying the sand out of one of my shoes.

"I'll show you... go!"

And then he was tugging on my hand and pulling me along behind him as he ran, not back towards the campground where all the families were, but away from them and into the trees. We stopped just in front of a tree. It was a really cool tree, I'd never seen one like it before. I don't know anything about trees so I couldn't tell you what type of tree it was but its leaves and branches were so low that you couldn't even see the trunk!

The boy ducked under the branches and a moment later, I couldn't see him at all. "Come on," I heard his voice say from _within the tree_.

I stepped forward hesitantly and used my arms to move the branches aside. Stepping through the gap, I looked around and saw that we were standing under a huge dome made from the trees branches.

"Wow! This is so cool!"

"I told you so," the boy said from where he was sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"So what are we gonna do here?" I asked; while it was awesome, there wasn't much stuff I could think of that we could do inside a tree.

"Have you kissed anyone before?"

My eyes widened at that. "_What?_"

"My mummy kisses my daddy _all_ the time."

"I saw my brother kissing a girl last week. But I've never ever kissed anyone – besides my mum and dad – I'm only _six_."

"Well, _I'm _seven, but I have never kissed anyone either."

We sat there in silence staring at each other for ages. I don't know why he was talking about kissing. I've never spoken to anyone about kissing before. Not even Cooper.

"I think you should kiss me," he said quickly with a small nod of his head.

"Kiss you? But I can't – I don't even know your name."

"Kurt. My name is Kurt. What's your name?"

"Blaine."

Smiling at him, Kurt said, "Okay, now you should kiss me."

"Umm, okay..." I didn't know what to do when you kiss someone. Should I stand up? Mum and Dad are always standing when they kiss. But then when I saw Cooper kissing that girl they were laying down on his bed. I don't want to lay down here though, the ground is really dirty. Kurt didn't look like he was going to stand up _or_ lay down. Maybe he wants me to kiss him sitting down...

I leant across then, closing my eyes as I pressed my lips to his quickly. His lips were really soft, much softer than my mum's or my dad's when they kissed me goodnight.

When I sat back down and looked at Kurt, he was smiling. I was smiling too.

"Now we have to get married!"

"Married? Only adults get married though, and we're only little kids!"

"We're not _that_ little. And besides, we kissed, we _have_ to get married now. Don't you ever watch movies? They always kiss when they get married."

"I guess. Okay. How do we get married?" I'd never thought of getting married before. I didn't think I'd have to think about it so soon. I thought I'd be super old by the time I did.

"We just have to say 'I do'."

"Should we stand up? They always stand up when they get married in movies," I pointed out, happy to see that Kurt agreed as we both stood up to face each other. "I do."

"I do -"

"_Kurt? Kurt, where did you go? Are you hiding again? Do you remember what I told you last time?"_

Kurt grabbed my hand then and walked out from inside the tree. I saw a woman running towards us; she must have been the lady who was yelling.

"Kurt Hummel, don't you do that again!"

"But Mummy, I was just showing Blaine my favourite tree. He'd never ever seen it before!" Kurt said, a small pout on his lips.

"Well next time you have to tell me before you go running off, okay? Come on now, say goodbye to your friend, we have to go now..."

"Bye Blaine." Kurt said quietly, grabbing onto his mum's hand and waving with his other.

"Bye Kurt."

Just as Kurt was walking away, Cooper came around the corner, stopping and putting his hands on his hips as he saw me.

"Blaine, seriously, you can't just disappear like that. Mum and Dad were starting to freak out," he said, holding onto my shoulders and steering me back towards the picnic ground. "Where'd you get off to anyway?"

"I met a boy. I'm in love, Coop!" I said ecstatically, unable to stop grinning.

"Sure you did, bud."

"No really, I did. We got married and he kissed me! Like when I saw you last week, except we were sitti-"

"Well, congratulations, little brother. Can't wait to meet him." And then they were back at the picnic table where they'd eaten lunch; they packed everything up and then they went back to the house. He was so preoccupied thinking about his new found love that he completely forgot about the new people who had moved in next door.

…

**There it is - first actual chapter done and dusted! As you could probably tell, this story is from Blaine's perspective. And as I actually have a plan for this one, I can tell you know that this story will be 16 chapters including the prologue and an epilogue.**

**And I am absolutely in love with sassy confident seven-year-old Kurt Hummel!**

**Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought. Stay tuned!**

**Em xoxo**


	3. 2002

**And we're back. I got a little stumped with this chapter because I combined what was supposed to be in this chapter with an idea for another chapter, so I had to rearrange a few things, but here it is!**

**Enjoy! :)**

…

**2002.**

For two whole months after we returned home from the lake that Summer, there was only one thing I could think about; Kurt. I was either wondering what he might be doing at that time or sulking to Cooper that it would be so long until I could see him again or continually reminding _everyone_ that Kurt was my very bestest friend and one day we would get married for _real_!

As much as my never ending rambling annoyed Cooper to no end, years later he told me that he couldn't help but smile at me with sad eyes whenever I spoke about mine and Kurt's future wedding. He said I was so young and excited and full of joy that he couldn't bare to burst my bubble and tell me that because the government were idiots, it would likely never happen.

Instead he'd say things like, "Only on the condition that I be your best man," or "At least wait until you're nine or ten, buddy, don't want to go rushing into these things."

My reaction was always the same though, regardless of what Cooper said; I'd smile to myself and wander off into the next room feeling like I was floating, imagining what clothes we'd wear and what food we'd have and who we'd invite.

Cooper says it was adorable.

It died down after a little while, Kurt only coming up in conversation every now and then, until it was almost never. Cooper thought that I must have forgotten about him; Cooper's an idiot sometimes.

It was a Thursday night at the beginning of Summer when I hear my mum talking on the phone, "Yes, Aaron and Sylvia are coming over on Saturday for dinner. I haven't seen them in so long..."

When she got off the phone I was sitting in the chair across the table from her with a pout on my face.

"Hey honey, what's the matter? Did Cooper take your Power Ranger toy again?" she asked, moving around the table and crouching down in front of me.

"No. We're supposed to be going to the lake tomorrow. I even marked the day on my calendar..."

"Daddy has to work next week, sweetheart, so we're going to go next week instead. Is that okay?"

"I guess so," I said sadly, dragging my feet as I walked back to my room and crawled up onto my bed, laying down in the middle of it. I glanced first at the bag I'd filled with my clothes that was sitting at the foot of my bed, and then at the calendar that was hanging above my desk. I'd never had a calendar before, but I'd asked Santa for one for Christmas; there was nothing written on any date except for the following date which was circled with the words "SEE KURT AGAIN" written in big letters as neatly as a seven year old could manage.

…

When we finally arrived a week and two days later, I was hurriedly unpacking my clothes into my drawers so I could go next door and visit Kurt; Mum said I wasn't allowed to until my bag was empty.

I was almost finished, only need to put away my socks and pyjamas when Mum called out from downstairs, "Blaine, there's someone here to see you!"

I was then running so fast that I nearly tripped over when I was going down the stairs.

"Kurt!" I yelled happily, running to my best friend who stood next to his mum just inside the doorway.

"Blaine!"

I heard Kurt's mum say something like, "He wouldn't stop talking about Blaine for _months_," but he was too busy hugging Kurt to pay too much attention to her words.

My mum invited Kurt's mum to come inside for coffee while I walked Kurt upstairs and showed him my room.

"How was your year?" Kurt asked him as he put the plastic bread rolls in the toy oven.

"I started at a new school. _Big kid_ school. I made a friend, his name is Wesley," I said before adding quickly, "but you're still my _best_ friend!"

"That's good, 'cause you're mine too!" Kurt said with a huge smile on his face. "And that's really cool about your new school. I didn't do anything exciting, but I'm really happy to see you."

"Me too!"

Leaning in close to me, Kurt said just above a whisper, "Can you keep a secret?" Nodding quickly, I leant in close so that we were face to face, our noses touching. "Mum told me not to say anything until she spoke to your mum about it but I'm so excited that I can't wait... my mum is asking your mum if you can have a sleepover at my house tomorrow night!"

My eyes went wide at that as I pulled back a little; I'd never had a sleepover before. "Really?"

Kurt nodded quite smuggly, "it was my idea."

…

Even though I wasn't going over to Kurt's house until five o'clock, I already had my pyjamas and toothbrush packed in my backpack by ten am.

"Cooper, what do you do at sleepovers?" I asked as I nibbled on my turkey sandwich.

A small smirk appeared on his face before he leaned really close to me before saying suddenly, "ghost stories!"

I'm pretty certain my face went pale at that; it felt like it did. I really didn't like ghost stories. I didn't like scary movies either. Last year Mum took me and Cooper to see this movie called Harry Potter and there was this one part where there was this ghost wearing a black cloak in a dark forest and he was chasing the main boy. Luckily this man that was actually half-horse saved him but I still couldn't sleep properly afterwards for a week!

"G-ghost stories?"

"Yeah, buddy. If you're going to be a big kid and go to a sleepover you have to be able to cope with some ghost stories. You don't want Kurt to think you're a baby, do you?"

"No! I'm not a baby, I'm seven!" I protested.

When him and Kurt crawled into their sleeping bags on the floor of the play room that night, he asked quietly, "Hey Kurt... do you like ghost stories?"

Kurt rolled over so that they were facing each other. "Oh no. I _hate_ ghost stories!"

"Oh thank goodness!" I breathed a sigh of relief. "I was talking to Cooper this afternoon about what you do at sleepovers – 'cause he's old he's been to _heaps_ – and he said you have to tell ghost stories. And he told me you'd think I was a baby if I got scared."

"I don't think you're a baby. And even if you are, then I am too," Kurt smiled at me in the dark, reaching out to grab my hand with his.

"Good. I was so worried that you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore."

"Never... Oh I know, we should promise that we will always, always be best friends, even if we don't like ghost stories!" Kurt said excitedly, moving so he was sitting and tugging on my hand until I was sitting as well. "Okay. I, Kurt Hummel, promise with all my heart that you will always be my best and most favourite friend. Now it's your turn."

"I, Blaine Anderson, promise with all my heart that you will always be my best and most favourite friend."

Kurt reached across and linked his pinky finger with mine, and then shook them like we were shaking hands.

"See, we can't break it now. No one can break a pinky promise."

…

The next week there was a carnival on in the park grounds. It was only there for two days, Saturday and Sunday. Mum said that Dad had work to do on Saturday but that we could go on Sunday.

So Sunday morning I got up bright and early, got dressed and had breakfast before asking if I could walk over to Kurt's house and ask if he could come to the carnival with us as well.

I had to wait until Cooper was finished getting ready, which was another _half hour_. When I rang the doorbell, we had to wait about a minute before Kurt's mum answered the door.

"Oh Blaine, sweetie. How are you?"

"I'm great! There's a carnival on today and Mum said that if it was okay with you that Kurt could come with us," I said hopefully.

"I'm sorry Blaine, but Kurt is feeling really sick today. He's sleeping right now but maybe if you come past on your way back from the carnival you can come in and see how he's doing?"

Kurt was sick? "Is – is he gonna be okay?"

"Of course, sweetie. He just needs to rest for a little while."

"Oh okay. Can you give him a hug for me then?"

"Yes, I can do that. Now go and have fun at the carnival!"

Even though Kurt couldn't come with us, the carnival was still really fun. I didn't go on any of the rides; Dad and Cooper went on those together while me and Mum watched. Mum let me buy cotton candy which she _never_ lets me have, and she even bought me a lolly pop to save for later. We got hot dogs from the hot dog stand for lunch and after we ate Dad gave me and Cooper some money to play the games.

I wasn't very good at any of them, but Cooper was really great!

"Cooper?"

"Yeah, bud?"

"Do you think you could try and win something for Kurt? I feel sad that he couldn't come and I think it would make him happy if we got him something," I said, holding out my last token.

He played the clowns game – that was his best one – and he won! He lifted me up so I could see over the counter to pick out the prize. I chose a small stuffed dog toy; it was super cute and I knew that Kurt liked puppies.

"How was the carnival?" Kurt's mum asked as she let me into their house later that afternoon.

"It was great. It would have been better if Kurt was there though," I said a little sadly, following her to Kurt's room.

"Kurt, you have a visitor."

Creeping my head around the side of the door I saw Kurt sitting up in his bed, his hair messy and the end of his nose a bit red.

"Blaine!" he said, his nose sounding stuffy.

I climbed up onto the bed and sat down next to him and then pulled out the toy from where I'd been hiding it behind my back.

"I thought you might be sad that you couldn't come today so I got you this. Well, actually Cooper won it, but I asked him to win it for you because he's better at the games than I am," I smiled.

"You got this for me?" Kurt asked disbelievingly, taking the toy from my hands and snuggling it up against his face.

"Yeah," I said bashfully, suddenly feeling a little shy.

"Thank you. I love it!"

I laid down on the bed next to Kurt as he tucked his new toy under the covers between us. I don't remember falling asleep, I only remember waking up briefly when someone tucked me into my own bed.

…

**Hope you liked it! Gosh I am absolutely in love with little kiddy klaine! Please review and let me know what you thought.**

**Em xoxo**


	4. 2003

**First of all, I haven't seen the finale yet but I'm going to watch it in about half an hour so by the time you're all reading this I will have watched it and we can all fangirl about it together! Secondly, in order to not find out anything about the finale I haven't been on tumblr since the last episode, so instead I've been spending my time writing, yay!**

**Enjoy :)**

…

**2003.**

I knew something was wrong.

Before we'd left the lake at the end of the Summer, Kurt's dad had suggested that we give each other our home addresses so we could write letters back and forth throughout the year. Having assumed that I would have to wait nearly a whole year before I could speak to Kurt again, I thought it was a terrific idea.

"You mean I can talk to Kurt even when we're not here?" I'd asked disbelieving; could you really do that?

"Yeah, squirt! You can write each other whenever you want."

So that's what lead my mum and I to the store the day after we got home, having begged her and promised to do all my chores for the rest of the week without complaint. She let me my a notebook, a packet of pretty pencils and a box of stamps. As soon as we got home that afternoon I ran up to my room and sat down at my desk. In the neatest writing I could muster, I told Kurt all about the drive home and how Cooper had spent the _whole time_ on his phone, and then about how Mum had taken me to the shops.

I got a reply two weeks later; Kurt's writing was much neater than mine. Soon after that my very favourite thing was coming home from school to see an envelope sitting on the end of my bed. Every time he wrote me a letter Kurt would use different coloured paper and different coloured pens; sometimes the pens would even be sparkly.

And that's how it continued, writing letters every couple of weeks and getting replies just as frequently. The longest I had to wait was just after Christmas, when it took Kurt three and a half weeks to reply; but he apologised in his next letter saying that they had gone to stay at his grandparents so he couldn't write back.

So that's why I knew something was wrong. Other than that one time, Kurt had always replied to me within a fortnight; this time is had been seven weeks.

At first I thought that maybe Kurt had gone to visit his grandparents again, but it was the middle of the school year and seven weeks was a really long time to be away from home; we weren't even gone that long over Summer. So he couldn't be visiting them for _that_ long, could he?

"Mama, why do you think Kurt hasn't replied to my letter? He's always replied before," I asked one night, trying not to cry as she tucked me into bed.

Running her hands through my hair the way she knew I liked, she said quietly, "I don't know, honey. Maybe Kurt's just busy. And you'll see him in a few weeks time when we go down to the lake anyway, so you can ask him then. Come on, time to go to sleep."

I couldn't sleep; even though Mum had tucked me in just as she did every night. I tossed and turned until I finally decided that maybe if I got a glass of warm milk it would help me fall asleep.

I wasn't supposed to come out of bed once I'd already been tucked in, so I crept down the hallway on my tiptoes, trying to be as quiet as I could. However I stopped just outside my parents' bedroom door when I heard my mum talking on the phone and sniffling.

"I'm so so sorry. I can't imagine what you must be going through. How is he?... Oh the poor thing. If there's anything we can do, anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask... I should let you go but take care of yourself, and call if you need anything."

When I heard her hang up the phone and let out a small sob, I stepped into the doorway. "Mum? Why are you crying?"

"Oh Blaine!" she said startled, quickly brushing away her tears. "I'm fine, nothing to worry about. Why aren't you in bed?"

"Couldn't sleep," I mumbled. I may be young and naïve – as Cooper always reminded me – but I could tell that she was lying. My mum never cried, so it must be something really really sad.

"How about I tuck you in again and then sing you to sleep, okay?"

When I woke up the next morning it was to my mum's arms wrapped tight around my waist.

…

Mum had been acting weird ever since I overheard her talking on the phone that night. I asked Cooper if he thought so too, but he was always so busy on his phone that he said he hadn't noticed.

"Honey, there's something I need to talk to you about," she said as she knelt down next to the chair where I sat looking out the window at the blue weatherboard house next door, waiting for a familiar car to drive up the drive way.

"Is it about Kurt?" I asked, a little scared; we'd been here for nearly two weeks now and Kurt still wasn't here.

"Kind of. Come on, lets go and sit on the couch with me."

She didn't start speaking until I was seated opposite her, leaning against the arm of the couch.

"Blaine, do you remember when you were younger, how grandma got sick and then she went to heaven?"

I nodded quietly. I remembered; Mum and Dad kept crying, Cooper was crying too but every time I asked him why he said he wasn't and that it was just his allergies. Cooper doesn't have any allergies though.

"Well, a few months ago Kurt's mum was in an accident, and she was really hurt and I'm afraid she didn't make it."

"W-what?" I asked, my eyes filling up with tears.

"She's gone to heaven, honey."

"Is she coming back?"

"I'm so sorry, Blaine. She's not coming back... I spoke to Kurt's dad and they're both very sad and miss her very much, which is why they're not here right now. But he said they would probably come down next week or the week after – Blaine? Oh honey..."

I burst into tears as Mum wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her lap. I felt silly curling up in her lap – I was eight now, after all – but I didn't really care.

"I don't want Kurt to be sad," I cried into her shoulder.

"I know you don't. Which is why, when they get here next week, you just have to be the best friend you can to Kurt. To help cheer him up. Do you think you can do that?"

I nodded, wiping my nose on my sleeve; Mum usually told me off for doing that but she didn't say anything this time.

We sat there for a while not talking until Mum said, "You know, seeing as it's raining, how about you and I make some of those strawberry and white chocolate cookies you love so much?"

And I couldn't very well say no to cookies.

…

Kurt and his dad had been here for two days now and, just as Mum had asked me, I hadn't said anything to him about his mum. The first night they got here they ate dinner at their house, but last night and again tonight they were over for dinner; Mum always says that when she feels helpless she cooks. Mum had told me that they would be really sad and that I would need to cheer them up, but I hadn't expected them to be _that_ sad. Normally when people are sad you can only tell if they speak to you or if they are crying, but just looking at Kurt and Burt I could tell that they were sad. And they both looked so tired like they hadn't slept for a week.

"Well this was delicious. Thank you again for having us over," Burt said as he wiped his mouth and hands with a napkin.

"It was no trouble at all. You two are welcome anytime you like," Mum replied with a smile.

"It's just hard, you know, Friday nights were our..."

As Burt went quiet, I heard an almost silent sniffle beside me that, had I not been sitting so close, I wouldn't have heard, and glanced over to see Kurt looking down at his knees, a few tears falling on his cheeks. I didn't know what to say. And I didn't want to say anything that would make him even more sad so instead I put down my cutlery and reached across to take Kurt's hand in mine. He looked up at me then, his eyes still sad and his tears still there but there was a small smile on his face so I figured I'd done something right.

"Blaine, honey, how about you and Kurt go and watch a movie or something while we wash up?" Mum said, starting to clear the plates.

"Hey! Why does he get out of doing dishes?" Cooper complained.

"Not now, Cooper," was all she said.

"Come on," I said quietly to Kurt, tugging on his hand and leading him into the play room.

I was sitting on the floor in front of the TV going through mine and Cooper's dvd collection and picking some out that I knew were funny, and that I knew Kurt liked, when Kurt said quietly, "Did your Mum tell you about... about what happened to my mum?"

My head shot up at that – I didn't think Kurt would say anything, not after Mum told me not to say anything so much.

"Yeah, she did..." I said, turning around so that Kurt and I were sitting opposite each other. "I'm really sorry, Kurt."

"Thanks. And I'm so sorry that I stopped writing you letters, Blaine. But my mum she... and then I kind of forgot but I promise you that this year I'll always reply."

"That's okay. And I'm glad, because I really liked writing to you," I said with a smile.

"Me too," he said as his face scrunched up and he started crying again. "I just – I just miss her so much."

Whenever I cried – which wasn't often because I'm a big kid now, well, except for last week but that was different – Mum always sat down and hugged me, singing softly in my ear. I didn't really know the words to any songs that weren't Christmas songs, but I could hum the tune to some and I could _definitely_ hug.

I ended up going with the Harry Potter theme song. I didn't know whether Kurt had seen Harry Potter but I loved it and it made me happy so I thought it might make him happy too. And besides, the song was really pretty.

"You're the best friend anyone could ask for, Blaine," Kurt whispered in my ear.

Yes, I'd definitely done something right.

…

**I'm sorry :( I'm sorry that this chapter was so sad but it had to be done and at least I kind of got it over and done with early on so we can get back to the happy adorable kiddy klaine cuteness. **

**Please review and let me know what you thought :)**

**Em xoxo**


	5. 2004

**I got a little bit stuck for this chapter, so apologies for it taking me a little while to update. But as consolation, you know how I said the prologue was set in 2012...? Well, I lied. It is now set in 2013; inspiration struck and there was an extra chapter I just _had_ to squueze in there. So yes, yay for an extra chapter!**

**Also, if you go to my tumblr (emlovessid) and click on the 'my fics' link in the sidebar, I posted photos of the what I imagine Kurt and Blaine's lake houses look like in this. So you should all go and check that out.**

**Anyway, on to the story. Enjoy :)**

…

**2004.**

"Are you serious?!" Kurt near yelled, jumping up and down on the balls of his feet. "You're actually going to build us a treehouse?"

"Yeah, kiddo. It'll be over at Blaine's house though, 'cause we don't have any trees big enough here," Burt replied, ruffling Kurt's hair a little before turning to look at me, "it was your dad's idea, after all."

And that was how the big _Build a Treehouse_ project of the Summer of 2004 began. The following Monday, Dad, Burt, me and Kurt all piled into Burt's 4-wheel-drive and drove into town to pick up supplies. We spent most of the morning in the hardware store, picking out wood and sheets of glass and paint and corrugated iron. It was nearly lunchtime by the time we finished there, so we went to a cafe for lunch and then bought the last few bits and pieces; a set of table and chairs, a hanging lamp.

It was late afternoon before we got back to the lake, _too late to start building now_, my dad said. Kurt frowned at Burt before he was reassured that they'd start building first thing in the morning.

Which we did. Well, Dad and Burt did while Kurt and I mostly watched, occasionally passing up a hammer or some screws.

We were sitting on the back porch eating sandwiches Mum had made us for lunch when Kurt put his sandwich down and turned to face me.

"Are you alright?" Kurt's voice came out of nowhere, startling me.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," I said.

I looked over at Kurt, who was giving me a look so disbelieving I knew he could see right through me. That didn't mean I wasn't going to hold my ground though.

"No you're not."

"And how do you know that?" I couldn't tell whether it sounded serious or joking to him. And I didn't know which I'd prefer.

"Our dads are building us a treehouse. A _treehouse_, Blaine! And you're not nearly as excited about this as you should be. So _that's_ how I know something is wrong... wanna talk about it?"

"Do you know what a divorce is, Kurt?" I couldn't have helped the tears forming in my eyes then even if I'd tried.

"Yeah," he said quietly, reaching over and squeezing my hand. "A girl who went to my school, her parents got divorced. She thought she was going to have to change schools because her mum was moving away, but she stayed with her dad so she didn't have to... why?"

I was silent for a while, trying unsuccessfully not to let Kurt see me crying, but it was then that I saw my dad and Burt walking over, obviously taking a break for lunch as well.

"Uh never mind. Don't worry about it," I said hurriedly, getting to my feet. "I'm gonna go get us something to drink," and then I walked away before Kurt could even protest.

I didn't bring it up again, and neither did Kurt; which I was thankful for.

It took another three days before it was finished, but there was still only the rope ladder Burt has found in the garage, so Kurt and I weren't allowed to go up there until they built an actual one.

"We'll make a proper one tomorrow and then you two can play in it all you want," my dad said, flipping the hamburgers on the barbecue.

"Oooh, can Blaine and I have a sleepover in the treehouse? Blaine! How awesome would it be to have a sleepover in there?!" Kurt said excitedly and Mum dished up dinner.

The idea of having a sleepover up in _our_ very own treehouse – mine and Kurt's – was seriously exciting. So exciting, in fact, that instead of answering I just stared at our parents and nodded frantically.

"We'll have to think about it. Having a sleepover is one this but -" Mum said quietly before being interrupted by Dad, who'd just sat down at the table, "I don't see why that should be a problem. Anyway, we'll only be just inside if you need anything."

"What do you think, Burt?" Mum asked.

"I don't see a problem with it," Burt smiled in return.

"Okay. You boys can have a sleepover in the treehouse – but wait! Only on the condition that you both help clean up after dinner without _any_ complaints. So, is that a yes?"

"Yes!" "Yes, Mrs Anderson!"

"Now that that's settled, time to start eating before your dinner gets cold."

It was two night after that, after a secure ladder has been built, that we found ourselves climbing up and down that ladder, bringing up pillows and sleeping bags and torches and snacks.

"Okay, now remember. Just because you _want_ to stay up here the whole night, it doesn't mean that you _have_ to, okay? If you get scared or you're too cold or you just don't want to stay out there anymore, that's fine. We'll keep the back door open and you and Kurt can just go and sleep in your room," Mum fussed.

"_Mum!_ Stop acting like I'm going far away, I'm only going to the back yard. And Kurt and I are big kids now, we'll be fine. Won't we, Kurt?" I said, turning to look at Kurt who was standing next to me.

"Yup! Perfectly fine!," he smiled.

"See, Mum!" I said.

"Okay, okay. You two go and have fun," she laughed, albeit a little nervously, giving both Kurt and I a quick kiss on the forehead.

My dad and Burt called out a, "have fun boys!" from the living room as we ran past them and out to the back yard.

Ever since out first sleepover two Summer's ago, sleepovers had become one of mine and Kurt's favourite things. We'd had a few sleepovers last Summer; all at Kurt's house because him and Burt missed his mum and we didn't want to leave Burt all by himself; and since then it had kind of become an unspoken vow that we would have at least one every year. We would usually watch a movie and eat some popcorn, before we tucked ourselves into our sleeping bags and told each other funny stories about things that had happened throughout the year. But our treehouse didn't have a TV, so we couldn't watch any movies. Instead we sat facing each other, wrapped in our sleeping bags with a torch resting between us, eating the buttered popcorn and potato chips Mum had let us take from the cupboard.

"Hey, Blaine?"

"Yeah?" I asked, licking the salt and vinegar flavouring from my fingertips.

"You know the other day how you asked me if I knew what a divorce was...?"

I froze. I thought – well, I'd _hoped_ – that he would have forgotten about that. Apparently he hadn't.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Why did you ask me that?" Kurt was looking at me now, but unlike the simple curiosity that was there before, it was now mixed with sadness empathy.

I didn't know what to say. I could lie about it and just say that I was curious about what it was, that I'd overheard someone say it, and that would be it. Which wouldn't entirely be a lie, because I _had_ overheard someone say it; and that someone was Cooper, which was why I was so scared.

"I think my parents might be getting a divorce," I finally stammered out, unable to keep my eyes from filling with tears.

I'd first started noticing something was wrong when Cooper and I were on holidays for Easter. I was sitting on my bed reading _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_ for the second time since it was released last year when I heard what sounded like crying from the other side of my wall; the wall that backed onto Cooper's room. I grabbed my bookmark from beside me – you can't dog ear pages, it's not right – and put it between the pages I was reading before quietly opening my door and sneaking up to Cooper's room. His door was only open a centimetre or so, but I could still hear him; he was talking on the phone.

"_God, I just don't want to be another one of those kids who gets fucked around by his parents' divorce. I mean, look at Shane. I've been expecting it for months really, half the time they don't even sleep in the same bed anymore..."_

I quickly ran back to my room and shut the door before my sob could escape. I knew what a divorce was; Isabelle, a girl from my school, her parents got divorced and she had to move away. But Cooper's lied to me a hundred times before, so maybe he was lying about this too. Except when I pretended to be asleep when Mum came and tucked me in, and then waited up until everyone had gone to bed, I snuck out to find that Cooper was telling the complete truth this time.

"Are you sure?" Kurt asked quietly.

I half nodded and half shrugged, "I think so. I heard Cooper talking about it to someone on the phone. And Mum and Dad hardly even sleep in the same bed anymore... most of the time Dad sleeps on the fold out couch in the basement.

"They might not get a divorce though. They might just be a little bit angry at each other at the moment."

"Maybe," I sniffled, wiping my nose on the edge of my sleeping bag. "If they do get divorced though, do you think they'll still let me come here to see you?"

"I hope so," he said, reaching across and squeezing my hand.

"I hope so, too," I whispered.

"And we'll always have our letters, that won't ever change!"

I was about to agree when there was a scutter across the roof, both of us moving suddenly so we were sitting shoulder to shoulder.

"What was that?" I whispered, barely audible.

"I don't know. A – a possum maybe?"

"I don't think I like possums..."

"Did you want to go inside?"

"No. We have to prove them all wrong, we _can_ stay up here all night!" I wouldn't let Cooper have that satisfaction. "Unless you wanted to go inside..."

"No, I'm good. As long as we stay like this, I'm good."

…

**There you go! Sorry about the angst and sorry about the wait but eh, what can we do? Please review and let me know what you thought!**

**And on a side note, Darren's tour! I was unfortunate enough to be born in a country which is practically galaxies away from the rest of the world and therefore _no one_ comes here, so if you would like to join my why-do-I-live-in-Australia pity party, come and visit me on tumblr – there is the promise of lots of sobbing at all the fan photos and the amazingness that is Darren Criss.**

**Em xoxo**


	6. 2005

**Before I start this chapter I just wanted to say a massive thank you to every single one of you that reads this, whether you review or not, you're all fabulous and I love you!**

**This chapter is _slightly_ inspired by some events in my own life, but I'll explain at the end so I don't spoil anything for all you lovely people. And in case you've lost track of the years, in this one Blaine is 10 and Kurt is 11.**

**Enjoy :)**

…

**2005.**

It was starting to get really cold. I could feel Kurt shivering next to me as we sat side by side, pressed close together. Now, as the sun was just starting to set, would normally be the time that Mum would call us inside and make us put jumpers on; even though it was Summer, it still got quite cold at night. Instead Kurt and I were still wearing our shorts and tshirts we'd been wearing all day. Our dads had decided it would be fun to go camping for a few days; just us boys. Initially Cooper had offered to stay behind with Mum so that she wouldn't be alone, but instead she had decided to invite down some of her friends from back home. Needless to say, Cooper came with us.

Kurt was really excited. He said that he, his mum and his dad used to always go camping with his cousins when he was younger. Cooper loved camping too. He'd done scouts when he was my age so he was pretty good at all of that stuff; knew how to light a fire and put up a tent. But I'd never done scouts. When Mum had given me the option, I chose to take up violin instead. Cooper had given me a hard time about it; _you don't get any _real_ skills learning the violin_. Mum had reassured me that it didn't matter what Cooper said; if I wanted to learn violin, I could learn violin. So I did. And I was actually – _am _actually – really good at it.

So yeah, I'd never done scouts. And the closest I'd ever been to camping was when Kurt and I had slept up in our treehouse one night last Summer. That hadn't been too bad. It was only just in the back yard, after all. Still, there'd been a few too many strange noises out there for my liking. I was too stubborn to go inside though, so we'd stuck it out, and we survived. Although that's not to say that the next morning when I was alone with Mum I didn't tell her just how scared I was.

Dad and Burt were sharing a tent, and then Cooper was going to share with me and Kurt, 'cause we're the littlest. We'd left yesterday after lunch, driving as far as we could before walking the rest of the way until we reached a small clearing where we were going to be staying.

Kurt and I walked around collecting sticks and wood while the others set up the tents; we'd offered to help but Cooper told us we'd just get in the way.

And in the end, camping wasn't all that bad. We'd brought cans of spaghetti and baked beans to cook over the fire for dinner. I don't like baked beans, so I let Kurt have mine because he _loves_ them. And when we went to bed, surprisingly there weren't that many spooky noises. There was the occasional breaking twig or gust of wind, but other than that it was silent but for our breathing.

So yes, camping wasn't that bad; until this afternoon. Kurt and I had been playing around after lunch; climbing trees, playing tiggy, skipping stones. One minute we were listening to my dad telling Cooper off for being on his phone all the time – _Dad, I'm 18!_ - and the next we were in the middle of the bush, the campground nowhere in sight.

"Hey, uh Blaine?" Kurt asked a little nervously once we'd both stood rooted to the spot for a few minutes. I felt him step closer and intertwine his hand with mine. "Do you know where we are?"

"Uhm," I looked around, but nothing looked familiar; or maybe everything was _too_ familiar. "I think we came from that way. C'mon, let's go," I said, giving Kurt's hand a tug.

In all honesty, I _had_ thought we'd come from that direction. But after we'd been walking for at least fifteen minutes, I wasn't so sure anymore. Kurt must have noticed my unease as not a minute later, he stopped walking.

"B, I don't think this is the way we came..."

I started turning and looking around, once again trying to find something that looked even vaguely familiar.

"I don't – I don't think so either," I said just above a whisper, panic starting to set in a little bit. "Should we try going that way?" I point over to our left.

I began to worry my bottom lip then, a bad habit I'd always had; I'd always been the biggest worrier in the family, even moreso than Mum.

"Stop biting your lip, you don't want to get ulcer again, do you? We'll be fine. We'll just find somewhere to sit and our dads will find us soon enough."

I nodded and did as Kurt said, before he pulled me over and we sat with our backs against a large tree.

We stayed silent for a while, both waiting to hear some sound indicating that our dads or Cooper was nearby, as if by us sitting down they would magically find us straight away. That wasn't the case. I tried to stop the tears welling up in my eyes, but the panic in my chest was building up and up and I felt like if I didn't cry or scream or do _something_ that I would explode. I shut my eyes and took deep breaths just like Mum had told me the morning of my first day at my new school. I forgot about the fact that we were lost, I forgot about the fact that our dads had no way of finding us, I forgot about the fact that the cold felt like it was seeping in and I couldn't feel my toes anymore.

Kurt let go of my hand then, and the lack of contact made my eyes open suddenly, seeking him out to make sure he was still there. That panic subsided a moment later, when Kurt shuffled closer and wrapped both his arms around me in a tight hug. I wanted to fling my arms around him too, but he was hugging me so tight that my arms were pinned to my sides.

"It's okay, B. We're gonna be okay," he whispered in my ear, and it was like a wave of calmness was washing over me.

"Are you excited about the new Harry Potter book coming out?" Kurt said after a few minutes, pulling back a little. I opened my eyes and turned to find Kurt smiling at me, reaching out to wipe a few stray tears that had escaped from my cheeks.

"The new Harry Potter book?"

"Yeah, didn't you say it comes out next month?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah it does, on the 16th. Did you really remember that?" I asked disbelievingly; Kurt hadn't really ever been all that into Harry Potter.

"I may not have read any of them but you're my best friend and they're your favourite thing in the world, so of course I remembered. Do you have any predictions for what you think will happen?"

While it was easy for him to assume that Harry Potter was my favourite thing, it isn't – he is – but I thought I'd keep that to myself for now; after all, I never give up an excuse to talk about Harry Potter. We talked about that for a while, Kurt mostly nodding to what I said – I knew he was only talking about it because he knew that I was scared and this would distract me. But when I mentioned that I was trying to learn how to play the Harry Potter theme song on the violin, Kurt's eyes lit up.

"I love music. And hey, why haven't I heard you play the violin yet?" he said, pretending to be offended.

"I don't have lessons over Summer, just during the school year, so I never really thought of bringing it with me," I shrugged.

"Well, as your best friend, I think you should bring it with you next Summer so you can play something for me. I mean, everyone keeps talking about how good you are but how can I believe them if I haven't heard you for myself?"

"Okay, on one condition though... you have to play something on the piano for me," I smiled.

Kurt's brow furrowed then, "How'd you know I played the piano? I don't think I ever told you that..."

"Maybe I'm just psychic?" I suggested as I laughed.

"My dad told you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, my mum was telling him about violin last week and he mentioned it. So do we have a deal, I'll bring my violin if you play something on the piano?"

Kurt grinned widely and stuck his hand out to shake mine, "you have yourself a deal-"

"_Kurt! Blaine!_"

Both of our eyes lit up them, jumping to our feet almost immediately as we yelled back, "Dad! Dad!"

We started half-walking half-running in the direction of their voices, my legs feeling like jelly after sitting down for so long.

"Dad!" I called as Dad, Burt and Cooper came into sight, about a hundred metres away. Kurt and I were running then, stumbling over a few branches as we did so, until we threw ourselves into our dads' arms.

"You found us!"

"Where on earth did you guys go? We've been worried sick!"

"Oh thank god you're alright."

"We got lost and couldn't find our way back."

It took us maybe twenty minutes to get back to our campsite – Burt was smart enough to bring his phone with him so we could use the GPS – and by that time it was almost dark. Dad and Burt decided it would be best if we went back tonight, rather than stay here a few more nights as we were going to originally. Kurt and I protested, saying we didn't mind staying. We made sandwiches to eat on the way back and soon enough we were making our way back through the trees to where the car was parked; Kurt and I walking behind our dads but in front of Cooper so we had no chance of getting lost again.

"Hey Dad," Kurt yawned once we were nearly back.

"Yeah bud?"

"Could Blaine stay over tonight, 'cause we didn't get to stay camping for as long?"

"Of course he can," Burt smiled, reaching back over the centre console to ruffle my hair.

After a whole lot of fussing from Mum, checking me over for what felt like the hundredth time to make sure that I wasn't hurt, she walked me next door.

"Blaine, wait 'til you see what my dad did!" Kurt said as soon as I stepped inside, running up the stairs as I took off after him.

We stopped in the doorway to his room. Above his bed, held up by a ladder on either side, hung a large sheet which was hanging almost to the ground so you couldn't even see his bed.

"He made my bed into a tent!"

Jumping up and down on the balls of my feet, I replied excitedly, "awesome."

…

**There we are. Now I'm sorry to say that this will probably be my last update for at least the next month, because I still have 2 exams next week and then on the 21st I'm flying to London and spending 3 weeks in the UK and Spain! Ahhh so exciting!**

**Anyway, this story is kind of based on when I used to have a holiday house and one time when I was maybe 8 or 9, me and my sister and our step siblings decided to go for a bush walk and we got _really _lost and we were gone for hours and we ending up in someones backyard halfway across town and had to jump their front fence and then had to walk back. At the time it wasn't fun, but thinking back to it, it was actually kind of hilarious.**

**Please review and let me know what you thought.**

**Em xoxo**


	7. 2006

**I'm officially back! I actually got back a week and a half ago but that was to the news about Cory Monteith. I was – _am_ – devastated about it and just couldn't really get into my writing. However, after much poking and prodding from Teghan (thank you), here is the next chapter! In advance I'd like to apologise as this isn't really one of my best chapters – but I just needed to get past this one and then I actually have plans for the rest of the story which I'm super dooper excited for all of you to read. **

**But yes, I hope you enjoy :)**

…

**2006.**

It was going to be the worst Summer ever; for two reasons.

The first, was Cooper. He was nineteen – as he so frequently reminded me – which, according to him, meant he no longer needed to come down to the lake over Summer. I love the lake, that's not the problem at all. And Cooper makes it his life goal to annoy me as much as physically possible, so a Summer without him should be a welcome change. That was not the case however. You see, my parents are "on the rocks" as Cooper puts it. They fight – a lot – and always over little things that really aren't worth fighting over. For example, a couple of weeks ago Mum started yelling at Dad in the car on the way to drop me off for my violin lessons because he took the freeway instead of back roads when he _knew the traffic is always bad on the freeway at this time of day_. And just yesterday they spent twenty minutes arguing about when you should add the diced tomatoes to the spaghetti, during which they ended up burning all the meat so we got takeout instead.

So life at home was tense, to say the least. But at least with Cooper around, we could pretend to be talking about something super interesting while they were arguing, or _we_ could start arguing to distract _them_ from fighting for even five minutes. But now Cooper deemed himself "too old" to go on family holidays and instead would spend his Summer either at home or moving between friends' houses. Which left me going alone to the lake with my parents who couldn't stop arguing for more than ten minutes at a time. And normally that wouldn't be so bad because at least I could avoid staying at the house and hang out at Kurt's house instead... Which leads me to the second reason.

Kurt wasn't coming down to the lake this Summer. I found out two weeks ago when Mum picked me up from school and there was an envelope written on with familiar handwriting sitting on the passenger seat – Mum had gotten into the habit of leaving them in the car so that I could read them on the way home and, _hopefully, _have calmed down enough by the time we got home that I would be able to concentrate on my homework. It started off like any other letter; _How are you? How is school? How is violin? Did you finish reading (insert book title here)? _And then he said, _I have some bad news_, and that's when I knew it was going to be the worst Summer ever.

_I have some bad news. You know how I said that Dad was using my bathroom because the shower in his was leaking? It got worse. Now his entire bathroom and the front entrance are flooded and it's going to cost _heaps_ to get it fixed. Which means that Dad is going to have to work all Summer to get the money to pay for the plumbing and the floor to be fixed. Which means I won't be coming to the lake at all this Summer :( I know right, worst news ever! Why can't I be 16 so I could just drive myself?! We can still write though – Dad gave me the address to your house at the lake so I can send you letters while you're there. You're going down for the month, yeah? Dad promised me that we'll 100% be coming down next year, but even still, that'll be two years without seeing you! Oh, how are things with your parents...?_

"Blaine, sweetie. What's the matter?" Mum asked as we approached a set of lights.

"Kurt's house is flooded and Burt has to work all Summer to pay for it to be fixed, so they're not coming to the lake," I said quietly, quickly wiping my eyes when a single tears fell onto Kurt's letter, smudging the ink a little.

"Oh Blaine. I'm sorry. I know how excited you were to see him," she said softly, reaching across the centre console to run her fingers through my relatively tamed curls.

I nodded, not daring to speak as I tried to stop my lower lip from trembling. It didn't take her much longer to realise I didn't want to talk, so we continued in silence until we got home.

So yes, worst Summer ever.

…

"Blaine, come on. This is getting ridiculous!"

"_Okay!_" I called back down the stairs.

It was the first Saturday after school had finished and we were supposed to be leaving for the lake; an hour ago.

I'd always been pretty good at stalling for things. Like immunisations – I successfully managed to avoid Mum booking me in for my most recent round of shots for three months, before I ran out of excuses and she picked me up early from school one day to take me.

For the first time in my life I didn't want to go to the lake. And even though I knew postponing going would not change anything, I still tried my utmost hardest to do so. From _I'm just sorting out what books I need for school_ (I didn't need any – we don't get Summer holiday homework in year 5) to _I'm still packing_ to _I can't find Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_, I'd officially stalled as long as I could and had just been sitting on the end of my bed for the last 15 minutes. Grudgingly I picked up my bag and made my way downstairs, climbing into the back seat and stared out the window as I knew I would for the rest of the day.

"You don't have to sit in the back by yourself, you know?" Dad said as he packed the last of the stuff in the boot.

It was only then that I realised that Mum wasn't in the car.

"W-where's Mum?" I asked wearily, slightly afraid of what the answer would be.

"She had to drop some things off for Wes' mum, and then she was going to do the shopping, so she's going to meet us down there."

This was it. It was happening and it was just as horrible as I thought it would be. My parents were going to get divorced. Not only were they fighting, but now they couldn't even travel in the same car together. It was all I could think about the entire way there. What would happen with me and Cooper? Would we live with Mum or with Dad? What would happen with school and violin? I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I was actually shocked when we pulled up behind Mum's car in our driveway at the lake.

But apparently I was still preoccupied even then because I actually literally froze a metre from the front step when I realised that there was someone sitting there.

"_Kurt?! _Oh my god, what are you doing here?" I screamed, finally snapping out of my trance and running into Kurt's waiting arms. "I can't believe you're here! So your dad didn't have to work after all – why didn't you tell me?"

"I missed you," Kurt said, hugging me tightly before pulling away. "And no, Dad still has to work..."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused, noticing Kurt glance back between me and the house a few times.

"I came here with your mum, actually. After she heard from you that we wouldn't be coming, she called my Dad and organised it all. I'm only here for two weeks, but that's better than nothing!"

"Mum! You knew I would see Kurt this whole time and you didn't even tell me!" I said to her as she stepped out onto the porch, however I couldn't find it in me to actually me mad at her when I had Kurt standing right in front of me.

"And where would the surprise be in that?" she laughed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I said as I hugged her on my way into the house and upstairs to mine _and Kurt's_ room.

…

Sleepovers in a treehouse were my favourite thing; well, asides from Harry Potter. But even before we had our treehouse, sleepovers were my favourite thing, particularly sleepovers with Kurt. So _two whole weeks_ of sleepovers with Kurt was _awesome!_

The weather this Summer wasn't very good, and it rained heaps. So we only ended up sleeping in the treehouse 2 or 3 times, and the rest of the time we stayed in my room; me in my bed and Kurt on the pull out trundle. And because of the rain, we had to spend the majority of the two weeks inside. And the one day we didn't, well...

As a thank you for bringing Kurt, Burt gave us his old kayak, so of course Kurt and I were going to use it. In our time stuck inside the house, Dad had given us multiple lessons. We'd both used kayaks before and our section of the lake was only small, so we'd be in view of the house the whole time. So when there finally came a day – more than a week in – that there were actually blue skies, we were itching to get out of the house and onto the lake.

"Okay, and that's both of your life jackets done," Mum said as she tugged hard on my life jacket strap. "Now you remember everything Dad told you, don't you?"

"_Yes_, Mum!"

"Well then, you boys go and have fun."

Everything was fine for a while. I sat in the front seat while Kurt sat in the back, just as we'd practised inside. We both made sure not to lean too far over the edge, because Dad had drilled into us a hundred times not to do that because _you will flip it_. The one thing, however, that we didn't quite take on board was making sure to hold onto the oars tightly. Which is how we ended up out in the middle of the lake with no oars.

"So umm, should we use the whistle?" Kurt asked, trying to stifle laughter.

"No!" I said immediately. Dad had given me a whistle that we were to use if we got into trouble – I think it was because of the "getting lost in the woods" situation last year. "We can do this. Umm, one of us could swim out and get them?"

"The water is _freezing_. And they're hundreds of metres away already."

"Hmm," I said, trying to think of a solution but coming up with nothing. It was then that I started laughing, Kurt finally breaking just seconds later. "I think there might actually be something wrong with us. Maybe the bad weather was actually God sending us a message; _stay inside where you can't get into any trouble_."

It took us a few minutes to calm down, and then we both just sat there in silence, entirely unsure of what to do.

"So if we're not using the whistle, and neither of us are going to get in the water, I guess we're going to paddle back?" I asked.

"Paddling it is," Kurt agreed, rubbing his hands together exaggeratedly.

When you're using oars, kayaks can actually move pretty fast. But when you're using your hands? Yeah, not so much. It took a _lot_ longer than we thought it would, but we made it, without being caught out once by my dad who was working on something on the porch – at one point he glanced over at us, but Kurt just waved at him, pretending that we were looking at something in the water.

"You boys have fun?" Dad asked as we were dragging the kayak back up to our shed.

"Yeah, yeah. Heaps of fun."

Later that night when we were sitting on my bed watching Mulan, Dad knocked on the door and poked his head in.

"Do you boys know anything about the two oars that are floating in the lake just outside the house?"

Feigning innocence, Kurt and I shared a look before shaking our heads with hurried explanations of "No, no, of course not" and "Wow that's weird."

"Okay, whatever you say..."

The second he left the room we both broke down into a fit of laughter. So the "worst Summer ever" didn't turn out to be so bad after all.

…

**So that's it for today! Hopefully you guys enjoyed this one, and get excited because from here on out we start to get into the wonderful gooey bits of the story. Please review and let me know what you thought :)**

**Em xoxo**


	8. 2007

**Wait, what? I'm updating again? What is this? **

…

**2007.**

**Blaine: 12, Kurt: 13.**

_Beep. Beep. Beep beep._

You know those moods you get in where you're a little annoyed at something and then all of a sudden every little noise makes you want to pull your hair out? Yeah, well, I was in one of those moods. Which is super weird for me because I don't get all that annoyed too easily; growing up with Coop kind of makes one immune to annoyance. But today was different. Today I was at the point where I could quite literally start pulling my hair out at any moment.

It was late afternoon, nearly sunset, and Kurt and I were sitting down on the small pier just past Kurt's house. I was rereading _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_ for the _hundredth_ time, because the seventh and final book was being released in a week and in the last month I'd started reading them again from the beginning. And Kurt was, well, that's why I wanted to pull my hair out. You see, Kurt got a mobile phone for Christmas because this year Kurt would have to catch the bus home from school two days a week – Burt had to work extra hours – and Burt wanted Kurt to be able to contact him if need be. However, ever since we'd both arrived a week ago, Kurt had practically been glued to it. It was constantly beeping and beeping and pretty soon it was going to turn me insane; I'd read the same sentence about _Felix Felicis_ three times now.

Why the constant texting, you ask? Because Kurt has a girlfriend.

"_Blaine?" Kurt whispered._

_I don't know why we were whispering; we were having our annual first-night-back-at-the-lake sleepover in our treehouse, so there was no way anyone inside would be able to hear us. So yeah, I have no idea, but I guess if Kurt is whispering then I should too._

"_Yeah?" I whispered back, rolling onto my side to face him._

"_I need to tell you something," he replied, turning on his side as well, "but you can't tell my dad."_

"_Yeah, of course. My lips are sealed," I said complete with a fake 'zipping my lips' gesture._

_Still speaking in a whisper, Kurt continued. "Okay, well two weeks ago my friend Riley – I've told you about Riley before, haven't I?" I nodded. "Well, Riley had a joint birthday party with his twin sister Charlotte, so all of her friends were there as well as Riley's, and I don't know who suggested it but everyone decided to play Truth or Dare. And I _hate_ Truth or Dare, as you know."_

"_Yeah," I laughed, "Truth or Dare is the worst; _especially_ when you play with Coop."_

_Kurt laughed for a few moments before turning nervous again. "And then the next thing I know Preston is daring me to ask out the girl that I like. And everyone was just sitting there staring at me expectantly. I don't even like anyone like that but all the girls were laughing and giggling, except this one girl Bianca, who looked like she wanted the world to swallow her whole. So I panicked and asked her out!"_

That_ was not at all what I was expecting. When he asked me not to tell his dad I was expecting him to say that he'd done badly on a school assignment or that he didn't want to play the piano anymore or something of that sort._

"_What did she say?" I said, barely above a whisper as Kurt chewed on his bottom lip._

"_She said _yes!_ Apparently she's had a crush on me for ages and that's why all of her friends were giggling. And after she told me that I couldn't exactly say that I didn't want to go out with her. So yeah..."_

"_You have a girlfriend," I said in shock._

"_I have a girlfriend," Kurt sighed._

"Ugh, I swear, I have never wanted to strangle someone more in my entire life," Kurt groaned, collapsing back on the pier, throwing his arms to cover his face.

"Kurt Hummel, who knew there was a violent streak in you? We've been best friends for six years and I'm only just discovering this now?" I joked. "You could have murdered me in my sleep and no one would even have suspected sweet innocent Kurt Hummel."

"Oh shut up," Kurt laughed, swinging his arm out in an attempt to hit me but missed me by at least a metre.

We were silent for minute before I said, "You were talking about Bianca right? Cause if you were talking about me it probably wasn't wise of me to bring up how you could kill me in my sleep."

"Of course I was talking about Bianca. She's lovely, don't get me wrong, but she _will not stop texting me_. Like I get that we're going out but that doesn't mean you need to send 25 texts a day all consisting of variations of _how are you_ and _I miss you_."

"Oh Kurt, I miss you _soo_ much! I can't wait until school comes back so I can see you again..." I mocked, knowing that laughing always made Kurt feel better. "Stop hanging out with that dorky friend of yours and text me instead..."

"You're not dorky," Kurt smiled at me, groaning when his phone buzzed again. "If this is what actual dating is like then sign me out. I'll happily live alone with my ten cats."

"It's alright. I'll come along with my eight cats and we can be forever alone together."

"Okay, I take that back. You are a dork," Kurt said, typing out a message.

It was quiet while Kurt was replying to his message, which got me thinking again about what had been bugging me all week. It was silly, really. And it felt silly to even think about asking Kurt about it. Well, not so much silly as embarrassing. But it had been gnawing away at the back of my mind ever since Kurt first told me about Bianca, and I couldn't not ask any longer.

"Hey Kurt?" I asked a little sheepishly.

"Mmm," Kurt hummed.

"Is it weird that I don't like any girls?"

Kurt lifted his head from where he was still laying back against the pier, looking at me as he realised that I was actually being serious now.

"No, I don't think that's weird. There isn't a set age where you have to start liking them, we have our whole lives for that. And I mean, honestly, I don't really even like them either," Kurt smiled, rolling over onto his stomach, leaning up on his elbows and resting his chin on his hands. "So, are you excited about _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ coming out next week?"

And with that, all the tension and my annoyance at Kurt's constant texting was gone. "Am I excited? Like that's even a question."

…

Despite Kurt's reassurances, I still couldn't stop thinking about it. I know that Kurt said there was no set time when we had to start liking girls, but that didn't necessarily mean there wasn't a certain time that we _should_. None of my friends at school were going out with any girls, but they would regularly talk about girls in our class and who they thought was pretty; Wes even talked about how he was in love with this girl Stacey, and had been since Christmas. And even if Kurt said he didn't _like_ any girls, he was still going out with one, which was a giant step above from me.

I kind of wished that Cooper was here. Even though he got on my nerves to no end and quite regularly made me wish I was an only child, if I ever needed to talk to him about something, he would always be there to listen. And I'm sure I could ask Mum if I could borrow her phone to call him, but as soon as I would say that I was calling Cooper, she'd know that something was up. And then I'd have to tell her about it because she can always see right through me when I lie, and I don't really want to talk to her about any of this.

Don't get me wrong, I think girls are pretty just as much as the rest of my friends. But to me they're pretty in the same way that I think my mum is pretty, not in the way that Wes thinks Stacey is pretty. Maybe I just don't – no, I'm being silly. Kurt was right.

…

"Blaine, are you ready to go?"

"I'm coming!" I called back down the stairs as I jumped from my bed, pulling on my shoes.

Today was the day. It was July 21 – the day I'd been counting down to for two years – and Dad was driving me into town because _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ was being released today.

"Thank you," I said in awe to the cashier as I handed her my money and she passed me the brand new, hardcover novel over the counter.

I walked back to the car holding it to my chest as if I were guarding the world's most precious jewels; and then once we got back to the car, I just sat and stared at it on my lap.

"You gonna open it?" Dad asked after a while.

"Nope, I'm gonna wait until we get back. And then I'm gonna sit up in the treehouse and not come down until I've finished and I know who survives and whether or not they defeat Voldemort and if Ron and Hermione get together and what happens to Hogwarts and if they lock Snape up and -"

"Woah, remember to take a breath every once in a while, otherwise you'll drop dead before you can read it," Dad laughed.

"I'm just really excited," I sighed, leaning my head against the window.

"Really? Wow, I never would have guessed from us driving into town at eight in the morning so you could buy it the moment the bookstore opened."

"Thank you, Dad," I smiled.

"No problem," Dad replied as we pulled into the driveway. "Go on. Go and find out what happens."

I jumped out of the car – book in tow – and ran to the back of the house, climbing up the ladder to the treehouse. I sat down in one of the beanbags and got comfortable before opening to the first page.

"_The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane..."_

…

It was dark outside now, the sun having set at least an hour or two ago. Mum had brought me a sandwich to eat at lunchtime but had made me come back into the house for dinner. I's shovelled my food down in record time and put my dishes in the sink before running back out to the treehouse.

I was sitting cross-legged on the floor, the closed book beside me, when Kurt's head appeared at the top of the ladder.

"Was it as amazing as you'd hoped it would be?" he asked, pulling himself onto the balcony.

"It was..." I didn't have any words for it. It was heartbreaking and shocking and perfect in a way that I didn't expect, in a way that I never even knew I wanted. "...it was, _so amazing_! But it hadn't really dawned on me until now; I'd been so excited about reading it that I hadn't even given any thought to that once I did, that was it. It's over."

"Aww, B," Kurt said, sitting down beside me, his arms coming to wrap around my waste as he rested his head on my shoulder.

…

Two days later I finally decided to ask Mum if I could borrow her phone to call Cooper and, surprisingly, she didn't even question me as to why. I sat on my bed as the phone rang, nervously playing with the corner of my pillow.

"Hey Mum, what's up?" Cooper answered, sounding as though he were in the middle of eating.

"Uh, it's me. It's Blaine."

"Oh, hey Squirt! What can I do for you today?" he asked cheerfully.

"Can I – can I tell you something?"

He must have noticed my nervousness because his tone was entirely different when he replied. "Yeah, of course. Always."

I swallowed the lump in my throat before saying quietly, "Coop, I think I might be gay."

…

**Yay! Okay, so this is probably my favourite chapter so far and I really hope you guys liked it :) so please review and let me know what you thought!**

**Em xoxo**


	9. 2008

**Thank you all for the lovely reviews last chapter, you're all so sweet and I just want to wrap you all up in a big giant hug. But alas, I cannot do that, so have another chapter instead :) also MASSIVE thank you to Teghan for helping me out with this one.**

**Enjoy!**

**...**

**2008.**

**Blaine: 13, Kurt: 14.**

I should have told him already, I know that. I've told myself every day for the past 11 months that I need to tell him; Cooper has too, not so frequently but still pretty close. However I sometimes always found a reason not to. Last Summer I'd literally only just realised it myself, so I couldn't exactly tell him when I was scared out of my wits and wasn't even 100% sure myself. And then Summer was over and we both went back to our regular lives of school and music and letters; but despite us still writing to each other constantly, it felt wrong to tell him something so huge in a letter. What would I write? _Hi Kurt. How are you going? Just thought I'd let you know that I'm gay. Oh, how are piano lessons going?_ No. So that was my excuse for a while and it was quite reasonable, Cooper even said so himself. However, for my birthday Mum and Dad bought me a mobile phone so, in addition to our still regular letters, we were then texting all the time too. So my excuse of not wanting to tell him through writing went out the window, because it would be so simple to pick up the phone and call him. It wasn't like I was unsure; I was as sure about it as I was sure that I loved Harry Potter. I am gay. I like boys and I am gay.

So that was the end of my run of excuses, but I still avoided telling him – as well as avoiding talking about girls. If I was being honest with myself, I knew the exact reason why I hadn't told him yet, and it had nothing to do with the mode of communication; I was terrified. I was downright terrified; more terrified than when Kurt and I had our first sleepover in the treehouse and we could hear all the animals, more terrified than when we got lost in the woods, more terrified even than when I was sure that my parents were going to get divorced and I was going to have to move away and never get to see any of my friends or Kurt again. Because telling Kurt made it _real_. I mean, sure I'd told Cooper, but for some reason telling Cooper didn't seem like that big of a deal. But telling Kurt? _Huge_ deal. And it wasn't even so much the thought of rejection; sure, I was a little afraid that Kurt would be disgusted and would never want to speak to me again, but that didn't phase me too much.) It was because once I told Kurt, then I had to tell my parents, and then Wes and the rest of my friends at school, and then sooner or later the entire school will know and that thought is the most terrifying of all.

I knew I had to tell him though, and not even so much because of the fact that it would be wrong to keep a secret this big from my best friend; it was because if I kept this a secret from him any longer, my insides would be twisted beyond repair. I'd practiced it a thousand times in my head, what I would say to him. And I was doing exactly that when I felt my phone buzz once, and then a second time, in my shorts pocket. Pulling out my phone, I saw I had two messages; one from Kurt and one from Cooper.

I opened Kurt's first, _Just arrived, can't wait to see you!_

And then Cooper's, _Chill, Squirt. He's your best friend and he'll love you no matter what._

I sighed with relief, Cooper's message being exactly what I needed to read.

"You alright, sweetie?" Mum asked from the front seat of the car.

I looked up from my phone and replied, "Yeah, yeah. Just a little bit tired."

"Too excited to sleep last night?"

"Yeah, that's it." _More like too nauseated to sleep last night_.

When we arrived it was already quite late, having eaten dinner on the way, so I lugged my bag up to my room before going over to Kurt's.

"Hey! How are you, bud?" Burt said as he answered the door.

"Yeah, really good," I said with a bright smile.

"Blaine!" Kurt said as he appeared at the top of the stairs, running down them quickly and wrapping me in a warm hug. "I missed you. Tree house tonight?"

I faked a scoff as we pulled apart, "_Obviously_, it's our first night here."

"Of course, I'll just go grab my stuff and be right down," Kurt said as he darted back up the stairs.

My palms were sweaty and my hands were shaking as Kurt and I walked across the lawn from his house to mine. "Hey Kurt, I have to tell you something..." I said nervously, wringing my fingers together.

"Yeah?" Kurt said, looking over at me, a small smile on his face.

And then it seemed all too real that Kurt was right here and I was actually about to tell him about this giant secret I'd been keeping for a year and every single word I'd practiced saying for the past few months were instantly gone from my mind.

"Um, I brought my violin down. Cause I promised you I would a few years ago but forgot. This means you finally have to play something for me on the piano, though," I said quickly, the words flowing smoothly from me as if that was what I'd been intending to say all along.

"Ooh, yay! I can finally see if you really are the musical prodigy everyone says you are," Kurt laughed.

And so began my Summer of unsuccessful attempts of telling Kurt that I'm gay.

**...**

To say that Kurt was good at the piano would be the biggest understatement that had ever existed. He was _amazing_; and even still, that didn't seem like enough to cover it. Burt has always boasted about how good Kurt is, but I'd just thought that was the obligatory bragging that every parent did; I mean, I'm pretty good at violin, but Mum makes it out like I'm the best violinist to ever live. Burt wasn't exaggerating though; when he says that Kurt plays the piano better than most adult musicians, he was not kidding.

"I wasn't that bad, was I?" Kurt said sheepishly after a few minutes; it wasn't until then that I realised I'd been standing there staring at him with my mouth ajar since he's finished playing.

"Bad?" I asked in shock. "Kurt, you were amazing!"

I could see a blush creep up his neck as he bowed his head and mumbled, "You're just saying that."

"No, I'm really not," I said in awe.

"What about you, though?" Kurt said quickly to change the topic. "When you said you could play the violin you failed to mention that you could play it like _that_! You don't give yourself enough credit."

"We couldn't start up our very own orchestra," I said in a mock English accent.

"I think to be defined as an orchestra you need to have a few more than two members," Kurt laughed. "But seriously, what other secrets are you hiding from me?"

My throat tightened on me then as I tried to swallow, effectively switching off my vocal chords. I should tell him, _right now_. He literally just asked me what secrets I've been keeping from him and if I say no, that would be an outright lie.

"Hey, B. You okay?" Kurt said, his face concerned.

I swallowed slowly before saying in a slightly-off voice, "Yeah, just a bubble in my throat."

"Aww, did my wonderful piano playing choke you up?" Kurt joked, moving his hand to cup my cheek. Hours later and I could still feel the burning of his fingertips on my skin.

**...**

I felt incredibly guilty for not telling Kurt the other day. If I was unsure if Kurt was going to hate me when I eventually did tell him, there was no longer a doubt in my mind that he would. Summer was normally my favourite part of the whole year, except I'd been so wound up by the constant churning in my stomach and the voice in the back of my mind yelling at me to _just tell him already_ that I could hardly enjoy it.

It was Saturday, and ever since Kurt's mum had passed away, we'd all go over to Burt and Kurt's for lunch every Saturday. Today was a barbecue.

"Mmm, it's been so long since I've had a hamburger," Kurt mumbled, his mouth half full.

"Your dad does make the best hamburgers," I nodded in agreement.

We were both sitting at the table on Kurt's back porch, our parents still gathered around the barbecue as they ate and laughed.

"Hey Kurt," I said, my voice a little shaky.

"Mmm," Kurt hummed in response.

"I – uh. I – could you please pass me the ketchup?"

I chickened out. Again.

And Kurt passed the ketchup to me with a smile.

**...**

"So, you never did tell me. What happened with you and Bianca?" I asked a week or so later while Kurt and I were attempting – quite badly – to skip stones on the lake.

"Oh god, _Bianca_," Kurt sighed.

I'd gotten a letter from Kurt about three months after I'd gone back to school last year telling me how relieved he was that he and Bianca were no longer boyfriend and girlfriend, meaning he was – and I quote - "a free man who is not going to have eyesight problems at the age of fifteen from texting too much."

"I honestly don't even remember exactly how it came about but somehow it came up that this boy Parker has a crush on her and she kept bringing it up _all the time_ until I finally just asked her whether she liked him too. She said she did, and yeah. The next day she told me that even though she broke my heart, that I would always be her first love," Kurt said, breaking into soft laughter towards the end.

"Oh, how is your poor broken heart?" I said with a pout.

"Thoughts of her still pain me every day," Kurt said solemnly before grinning.

"Did I tell you that Wes finally got the guts to tell Stacey that he liked her?"

"No! What happened?" Kurt said excitedly.

"He asked her during recess right in front of all her friends. I told him that he should have waited until she was alone but no, once he sets his mind to something he has to go through with it. In the end it didn't really matter, apparently she's liked him for ages as well. Wes says they're not officially boyfriend and girlfriend but they walk around holding hands _every_ lunchtime, so that seems official enough to me."

"Aww, that's so sweet," Kurt smiled before narrowing his eyes on me and poking me in the shoulder. "What about you, mister? Any girls that take your fancy?"

Now. Now is literally the perfect time to tell him. _No, Kurt. No girls take my fancy because I actually like boys_.

"Nope," I said with a shake of my head, continuing to skip stones even though Kurt had stopped ten minutes ago; any excuse not to have to make eye contact.

"C'mon, surely there's gotta be somebody," Kurt prodded.

"No. Nobody."

"B, you know you can tell me, right? I promise I won't tell Cooper, or your parents, or anyone," Kurt practically pleaded.

"I doesn't matter, I don't like anyone," I persisted. I knew I was just digging myself deeper and deeper into this hole, but just the thought of telling Kurt right now made me feel sick in the stomach.

"Why are you being like this? You always tell me everything," Kurt said, sounding slightly offended.

"Because there's noting to tell!" I yelled. I'd never yelled at him before and the words tasted sour coming out of my mouth, leaving an off taste on my tongue. I knew straight away that I shouldn't have yelled at him; he looked shocked and upset. "Kurt, I'm sorry, I –"

"No, that's fine. I think I'm just going to go inside now," and with a turn on his heel, he was walking back towards his house.

**...**

It was a few days later and the topic of girls hadn't dared to be brought up again by either of us. After Kurt had walked off, I'd gone back to my house and went to bed early, claiming I wasn't feeling to great; it wasn't a lie, I felt horrible. But the next day neither of us mentioned it and we both pretended that nothing had even happened.

We were both sitting on Kurt's bed watching Mulan, but for the life of me I couldn't concentrate.

"You okay?" Kurt asked. "Mulan's your favourite and you're hardly even paying attention."

I felt the tears well up in my eyes before I could stop them. "Kurt, I have to tell you something."

Kurt looked seriously worried now, picking up the remote to pause the movie and then turning so he was facing me. He didn't say anything, just waited for me to continue. Which, after a few deep breaths, I did.

"I'm – I'm gay," I said as my tears fell onto my cheeks.

"Oh, B," Kurt said as he leaned across and pulled me to his chest.

"You'll still be my best friend, right?" I said through tears.

"Of course, I'll always be your best friend. I promise," Kurt said, pressing a kiss to my forehead as he ran his fingers through my curls. It was a little while before my sobs subsided, but once they did Kurt said quietly, "So, are there any boys that take your fancy?" and I couldn't help but laugh.

**...**

**Okay, so I was a little worried about this chapter because coming out is a really big thing and I wasn't exactly sure how to tackle it, but I'm pretty happy with how this turned out so hopefully you guys are too. Please review and let me know what you thought.**

**Em xoxo**


End file.
